The Crimson Snow (A Realm of Chaos and Void #1)

Chapter 27

The Breathless Fox

Kelpies, merrows, creatures born from the drops of water by Nemera, belong to the oceans. They do not need to breathe, as water itself is their source of life. Other creatures can also breathe underwater, but water is dangerous, tricky, and dense with forbidden desires. Yet, once in a while, it is a place full of wishes and sparkling hope. Beware of the siths that dwell below, but perhaps be even more cautious of the waters you’re in.

Retrieved from Encyclopedia of Wonders and Chaos Volume II

by Lysara Sorrowspring, Ch. 12, p. 67.

Seraphine Ashcroft

Iwill kill him.

Seraphine hit the water and opened her eyes, unable to help but marvel at the view. As she lay under the water, the crystalline drops reminded her of her beloved snowflakes. Bubbles floated around, dancing and shimmering like silver drops of starlight moving on their own. The water around her sparkled with an ethereal glow, as if stars had descended into the pond. Then, she heard another splashing sound, and Evren was beside her.

She narrowed her eyes at him with a promise for vengeance as she rose to the surface, but he faintly gave her a half-smile and tugged her below the waters again, fear clutching to her.

Underwater, Evren’s raven hair was dotted in starlight and flowing as if it were made of water itself, and his eyes could be compared with the crystal water. Then, she realized that the pond was a replica of his eyes.

However, when Evren opened his mouth, still underwater and holding her close, he spoke, “Sorry for that.”

Though the water muffled his voice, it sounded clear. She looked shocked while still trying to hold onto the little precious air in her body.

“Ah!”

he said, smiling widely and moving closer, his hand touching her neck softly, the sensation as intense as ever. “Just open your mouth, Crimson Eyes.”

He must be trying to kill me, she thought. As she started to pull away from his grasp, trying to push herself to the surface, he stopped her, wrapping his arms around her waist, locking her in place. Caged.

The air seemed to be leaving faster as her heart quickened. I’m drowning.

Concern marked her eyes, and she started to get dizzy and disoriented. “Just open your mouth, Crimson Eyes. You’ll see that you can easily speak,”

he urged her, his brows furrowed but still holding her in place. Not letting her go.

As if I’ll believe that. Seraphine had been holding onto the feeling of drowning all her life but did not expect to die from it.

She struggled hard to swim up, trying to escape his grip, but Evren’s hold was like iron. However, she slowly felt herself drifting away, her movements slower.

“For Nemera’s sake, Seraphine.”

Evren took her face in his hands. Her eyes were drifting closed, but she could see a quick smirk on his lips. “Just to be clear, don’t kill me for trying to help you not kill yourself. Again.”

Before Seraphine could make sense of his words, he pulled her head closer to his and dipped his head, his lips touching hers. It felt as soft as a feather initially, and then it intensified as he kissed her deeply.

For a moment, Seraphine forgot about killing him or drowning. Her heart sped up, almost about to burst out of her chest, and the only thought in her mind was Evren kissing her. Death by a kiss? Losing control of her mind and body, she moved closer. Kissing him was like breathing fresh air and being bitten by poisonous black roses. It was a blessing and a curse. It was life and death.

The water around them seemed to hum with energy, the bubbles reflecting the light in a symphony of colors. Seraphine could feel the warmth of his lips through the cool water, the pressure of his body anchoring her in this surreal underwater world.

Steadily, she gave into the hunger of her soul, gripped his raven flow hair, and kissed him back with all she had. If this was her last breath, she chose to waste it on a kiss.

Clinging to him felt natural, and Evren deepened the kiss, his lips exploring hers ardently. His touch was both tender and possessive, as if he was claiming a part of her he had always known was his. She felt his hand move to cradle her face, his thumb brushing gently against her cheek as his mouth moved over hers, tasting, exploring, devouring.

It felt like her soul was filled with fire and air and, at the same time, devoured by him, as if he were a soul eater himself, sucking her soul and life. Magic, torturous, addictive, and warm were recurrent feelings while they continued kissing as if time had stopped just for them. Seraphine breathed sharply, wanting to hold onto the moment.

I took a breath.

She opened her eyes abruptly and moved away from Evren, just enough for her to touch her breathing chest. She could feel air coming in and out of her mouth. It was dense but still enough for her heart to keep beating, for her to be still alive under the pressure of drowning waters.

That’s what he meant when he asked me to open my mouth. Evren had been honest, but perhaps she still had some trust issues when it came to him and a lingering fear concerning everything around her.

Evren smiled at her smugly. His lips were shallow, and she felt a blush creeping onto her face. He had been trying to help her, and she had pretty much gone after him as if he were the last meal she would ever get before her death.

“One day, after this quest is over, I will kill you,”

Seraphine said, but it didn’t sound like a threat at all, her voice sweet and airy in his ears.

“I just saved your life with a kiss.”

He took a strand of her hair and started to twirl it around his finger. “Just like in a fairytale! A prince saving a damsel in distress with a delightful kiss.”

“Delightful? Nightmarish would be a more accurate description.”

“Crimson little liar,”

he mocked, and they faced each other.

She pinched his side, and he laughed, his dimples making an appearance. “Now what?”

she whispered, still unable to believe they were breathing underwater.

“Now, we swim until we reach the deepest part of the pond.”

With that, Evren took her hand and started to dive down, her hair moving in a slow, majestic dance as they moved deeper until the water turned from crystal to blue, blue to gray, and then gray to pitch black.

Evren Wraithwood

They reached the dark pond’s bottom. There was barely any light, and looking up, the surface seemed far. Between the creation of the veil and the collapse that happened centuries ago, the water here was different, and breathing wasn’t a concern for them.

While he would not say this aloud, Evren had to admit that he wasn’t entirely sure Seraphine could breathe underwater. He hadn’t tested this before, and he felt slightly guilty over that. Still, if she had failed, he would have taken her to the top. If he knew something about her, it was that Seraphine had the odds in her favor.

Evren couldn’t hide the smile on his face. She looked so surprised when he had kissed her, and while the kiss was just to help her breathe, both of them knew better. As far as he remembered, she was all over him too.

He glanced around, still holding her gloved hand. It was pitch dark, with black starlight and dust floating around, different from the starlight above. The only thing visible were her crimson eyes. They were a beautiful, stark contrast in the middle of the darkness, shining brighter than everything else. As much as Evren adored them, he knew there was something more about them. Hopefully, he would find more answers in the forbidden library.

“Well? Is the forbidden section in the black waters? Another magic trick you want to show me?”

Seraphine’s voice was calm.

He moved his other hand and touched the ground. Just like he remembered, it was soft and dense, but it wasn’t exactly what it seemed.

Knowing Seraphine, she would love this, especially what lay beyond that. Evren couldn’t wait to see the delight in those extraordinary eyes when she realized where the library had been placed. He hoped it remained the same as he remembered. It had been centuries.

“See here?”

Evren guided Seraphine to touch the ground. “What do you feel?”

She used her other hand to pat the ground. “It feels dense. Like a wool blanket.”

“Ah, my crimson-eyed creature, dense like a blanket?”

Evren said, moving the hand he had wrapped around Seraphine to push through the ground. The dense surface started to give in, like a spider net expanding. “But I must say that your lips are way dense and soft—”

She pinched his hand, and he couldn’t help but laugh. Somewhere in the depths of the blackness, he heard her laugh too. Evren wondered if he could capture this moment, capture that sound, those eyes with a kiss.

“Such dangerous fingers you have there,”

he said. “Now, this dense ground is just a portal. We just need to slowly go through it. It might feel sticky, but it shouldn’t last more than a minute. Ready?”

“Ready.”

With that, he pulled her down, both of them sinking into the ground. He felt Seraphine tighten her hold on his arm as they swam deeper, not only through the waters but beyond the ground itself.

He felt water brushing his fingers first, and then the dense fog and sticky sensation around his body began to dissolve. He moved his hand to find a rocky corner while he pulled Seraphine through with him. Evren used his strength to pull Seraphine out of the ground, continuing to swim up, not down, this time.

“I get it,”

Seraphine muttered as they saw the waters beginning to lighten again, indicating they were close to the top. “It’s inverted, isn’t it?”

He nodded. “Yes, a fun trick, don’t you think?”

“Stunning. I’m still in awe of being able to breathe underwater. I used to practice holding my breath,”

Seraphine said.

That piqued his curiosity. “What do you mean?”

“I-I would hold my breath underwater in my tub. There’s no pond to swim in Coldhaven.”

Evren stopped just before reaching the top of the pond and the entrance to the forbidden section.

“Why would you do that?”

he asked, looking at her.

The water was clear, and her hair danced around her, making her look like a water nymph that enchanted men with their beauty.

She hesitated for a moment. “I wanted to see how long I could hold my breath. After a hard day, I’d close my eyes and empty my mind in the tub, challenging myself to see how much I could bear.”

A pang of guilt surfaced again in Evren. While he had planned this masquerade and these games for her, he couldn’t deny he had time to find a better way. She felt like she wanted to drown her sorrows, shattered and dragged in ways none should suffer.

Because of me.

Still, she rebuilt herself every time. Evren had seen her do it repeatedly.

He wanted to apologize but instead offered her something better. Moving closer, he grabbed the small fox pendant on her necklace that floated between them.

“I will make sure you never have to feel like you need to get underwater to lighten the burden of others’ cruelty bestowed upon your life,”

he swore, a deal imposed on himself for eternity.

Seraphine’s eyes widened. “I don’t know what you mean by that,”

she retorted.

He continued tracing the little pendant.“You see, you are here, breathing underwater, with no burning in your lungs. So, whatever you thought you couldn’t endure, you are doing it now. And it’s not magic. It’s always been you.”

He heard her sigh, and when he looked at her again, Seraphine seemed at ease.

Moving slightly closer to her, he whispered, “For me, you are like a fox—smarter than most beings, cunning, the best type of trickster. Regal and beyond the reach of a mere wolf like me.”

She laughed, her eyes softening. “Ah! You’re missing something. Beyond the reach of a mere smelly and muddy wolf, the adjectives here are quite important, but again, I know you lack those abilities.”

“Mmm, you may be right there, Crimson Eyes.”

He was unworthy of her on so many levels, yet he dared to wonder if, in a world where impossibility was causality and normality, one could dream.

Surprising him, she took his hand, the one holding the pendant. Instead of removing his hand, she covered it with hers, softly like silk. “Good I’m not a mere fox either, Evren. I’m a twisted crimson fox with a particular taste for twisted wolves.”

Her voice turned softer and richer, and the way she looked at him made him believe for a moment that perhaps his dream was not an impossibility after all.

“Not a smelly and muddy wolf? Just twisted?”

he asked, concerned.

“That—”

Seraphine removed her hand and smiled shyly at him. “Has yet to be seen.”

After centuries and decades of boredom, Evren felt an emotion he hadn’t fully been able to recover until now: hope.

Evren took her hand again, this time to pull her out of the waters, trying hard to suppress his smile but failing. “Fair enough, Seraphine Ashcroft.”

Then, they both swam back to the top until he felt the cold air touch his body once again.